What Once Was

Chapter 3: Jealousy, Jealousy

The few first weeks at the bar seemed to go pretty well. I had worked Thursday night through Sunday each week. It had meant that I didn't have much of a social life, but I didn't have much of one beforehand anyway. And the pay was decent, especially for Gotham.

I had got to know the other members of staff too. Tom was the only guy. Lily, Melanie, Laura and I made up the rest of the team.

Working there a few weeks made me realise that I was the worst looking girl at the bar. I never really considered myself "bad" looking, but the other girls were... beautiful. Really beautiful. Conventionally beautiful. I was not. My skin wasn't perfect. My nose not petite like the other girls. I was relatively thin, never really considered curvy or particularly desirable. Most of the time I experimented with my makeup, not really taking into account what was 'pretty' or 'cool'. I had also noticed that, apart from Tom, I received the least amount of tips on the team. Lily said that it was because I didn't take shit from the customers, I doubted that considering I was a pretty nice person. It wasn't until one shift where what little confidence I had was knocked.

It was an average Sunday night. It was just Lily and I on shift. A group of businessmen came in at around 10 pm. I had around 3 hours left of my shift.

"Okay okay okay... what are guys wanting? I'm paying".

I hated having to serve guys like these, but Lily was busy cleaning glasses.

"Hi guys, what can I get for you?"

The 'speaker' of the group finally decided to respond.

"Erm... Is the blonde chick not here??"

I could tell he'd had a few drinks already, unfortunately not enough to refuse service.

"Just me at the moment fellas. What can I get for you?"

"Okay well... I'm not gonna be served by an ugly bitch so, get the blonde chick".

His clique laughed in unison at the remark.

I stood there for a split second, my hands balled into fists, squeezing them so tight my knuckles turned white.

Breathe.

"Okay no problem... I'll get another member of staff for ya".

I composed myself and walked to back where Lily was cleaning glasses.

"Hey... umm... do you mind serving the group up front?"

"Of course girl... everything okay?" She asked, her face softening at my expression.

"Yeah I'm fine... just some asshole customers. Y'know?"

Lily gave me a reassuring tap on the shoulder and went out front. I finished up her tasks in the back, after taking 5 minutes outside to calm down.

The rest of my shift seemed to fly by when I wasn't up on front counter.

1 am struck on the clock. I grabbed my stuff from my locker and headed to the front door.

"Hey (Y/N)!"

I turned to see Lily calling my name. She had an hour left of her shift.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah erm... I just wanted to say... don't listen to those type of guys. They're just snobby business men. The scum of Gotham. The guys that only respect other men and will only speak to sluts.  Forget about em".

I stood for a second. Stunned. What did she mean by 'sluts'?

"Thanks Lily. That means a lot. Enjoy the rest of your shift. See you next week".

She gave me a wave and I exited the bar. It wasn't until I got a couple of blocks away that I ushered myself into a nearby ally. I slumped to my knees and cried. Cried to the point where my makeup was completely washed off my face and I was shaking from exhaustion. After a couple of minutes of self-pity, I picked myself up off the floor and walked myself home.